Asbestos could complicate final fate of Gettysburg's Electric Map

The final fate of Gettysburg's Electric Map as yet to be decided, according to battlefield Superintendent Bob Kirby.

But the map is "infused with asbestos," Kirby said in an email, and he must "determine the most environmentally appropriate and legal way" to dispose of it.

Kirby sent the email in response to earlier reports the map was to be destroyed.

Created in 1963 for the 100th anniversary of the great battle, the map depicts troop movements with colored lights flashing across its topographically accurate surface. Other battlefields - nearby Monocacy outside Frederick, Md., for example - still use such maps to depict fighting and troop movements.

But when the new visitors center opened in 2009, the map was replaced with a 20-minute movie, "New Birth of Freedom," narrated by Morgan Freeman. The map, in pieces, now sits in storage; the Park Service has offered to give it away, but has said in the past it can't find a taker with the space to display it.

Years after its closure, the map remains dear to many longtime battlefield visitors, and people reportedly still ask to see it.

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